Funnyman Bernie Mac missed out on seeing the movie that friends feel sure will cement his reputation as a bona fide film star - because he fell ill before a finished print was complete.

Soul Men co-star Samuel L. Jackson insists the late comedian would have been proud of his final film - because he was great in it.

The Pulp Fiction star, who recently attended Mac's funeral in Chicago, Illinois, says, "He's awesome in the film. I saw it a week before he passed. I was talking to his manager, who said he never got a chance to see it. That's a tragedy because it's one of the best things he's ever done. It's the Bernie we know and it's the Bernie we love."

Jackson warns Mac fans that the funnyman looks a little ill in the movie: "Bernie was thinner because he'd been sick off and on for a while, so he wasn't that (American) football-looking guy that I used to know."

Mac died on August 9 after losing his battle with pneumonia.

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(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)